The First Mobility Bond Project Has Arrived

Your tax dollars have been put to work. The first project funded by the 2016 mobility bond was completed late last month.

So what is it? The first project to come out of the bond is the Chesterfield Avenue sidewalk. It’s 1,800 feet long, cost $130,000, and connects the Sky-View Baptist Church to Epoch Coffee (in the North Loop area).

“This project is about more than just this sidewalk,” Austin Mayor Steve Adler said in his email newsletter. “It shows taxpayers we have a plan and will deliver on it. We promised to get right to work on sidewalks while we got ready to do the big work on the corridors, and we’re making good on that promise.”

As a reminder, the 2016 mobility bond was a $720 million bond approved by voters in November. In total, the bond set aside $37.5 million in funding for sidewalk infrastructure, which is expected to pay for about 60 miles of new sidewalks in Austin. Also included in the bond are $20 million for bike lanes, and $482 for “smart corridor” improvements along major roads like North and South Lamar, East Riverside, Guadalupe, Burnet, Airport, and others.